for investing in such an undertaking money that was freed up from other places, such as the construction of public water and sewer infrastruc- ture, which was about to end. The merger of two municipal transit com- panies, one that ran the buses and the other the trams and trolleybuses, brought some savings from adminis- tration costs. Tallinn’s mayor, Edgar Savisaar,
unveiled the idea of making pub- lic transport free in the beginning of 2012, saying that it would relieve traffic jams, reduce the number of accidents and above all provide better access to public transport to families in economically difficult situations. The city administration put the question to a referendum conducted among Tallinn resi- dents, where 76 per cent of those who did vote said ‘yes’ to free public transport. So how does it work in practice?
Tallinn is the largest city in the
world to offer free public transport and this right is universal in the city, being for all residents of the city, not just for targeted groups
free public transport has been work- ing so far. The results of the first year were the best so far: an increase of municipal public transport rides with 6,5 per cent and decrease of car traf- fic in the city centre by 15 per cent. Nearly 15 per cent of residents claim that free public transport has had
strong or moderate impact to their shopping and free time spending pat- terns. In 2014 and 2015 the number of trips had stabilised.
THE FINANCIAL EQUATION At the start of the project, the munici- pality decided that its budget allowed
Public transport is free only for Tallinn residents. For €2 they are entitled to a “green card”, which allows them limitless travel within the city. Residents do need however to swipe the card over a validating device when boarding the vehicles. They also must carry an identifica- tion card proving that they are a reg- istered resident of Tallinn. The registered resident part is cru-
cial to how Tallinn is paying for its free public transport. Before, there were thousands of unregistered resi- dents of Tallinn, meaning that they lived in the city but were paying taxes to another town or village where they had previously lived. Now, free public transport is an
incentive for those people to register and get on Tallinn’s tax rolls. Since the free public transport referen- dum in March 2012 the population of Tallinn has increased by more than 25,000 residents and subsequently exceeded 440,000. They contribute new annual revenues of about €10 million - almost equal to the €12
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Mobility, Multiodality and Traffic Efficiency
TALLINN
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